


Under your Skin (the hunger)

by DarlingNikki



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Eventual Smut, M/M, Not Beta Read, Well not yet - Freeform, but I can and I will, top!Alex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:21:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28665396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarlingNikki/pseuds/DarlingNikki
Summary: Alex had thought that Yassen was dead, he didn’t expect this at all.  But Alex for once in their interactions is the less impulsive one, and a new path is forged for both of them.
Relationships: Yassen Gregorovich/Alex Rider
Comments: 7
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y’all, instead of working on my unfinished works, I got caught in another WIP idea, so Vampire AU! Thanks to someone mentioning there’s no vampire fic & my current rewatch of Buffy for the hundredth time, I got a brain worm for some vampire fic. I’m kinda picking and choosing the mythology as I go, and don’t have a real plan, other than I maybe crave some vampire fluff, and wanted to try something different again, so I’m aiming for this to have some Alex topping Yassen for real, since it’s so not fair to Alex to always be bottom. I bet he’d like to be a kind!dom lavishing praise, and I kinda wanna see Yassen melt under it okay?

Alex can’t see it from where he’s standing behind Yassen’s form, but as Yassen stares down the man threatening Alex his eyes change, becoming more intense. A pale ring of cold fire burns around his irises, erie and penetrating, not that this angry man is actually smart enough to recognize the danger he finds himself in, as he stands ready to try to kill Alex. The man doesn’t even get to blink before Yassen moves, hands flashing faster than Alex can register. Alex stares at the body lying on the rooftop, watching the man gasp as he tries to breathe through a gaping slash through his throat. He’s not much longer for the world now, even though seconds ago he’d been a menacing figure about to pull a gun on Alex.

Yassen had taken care of it though.

Alex looks over at Yassen, but Yassen looks sick. Paler than he’d ever been, every blood vessel showing starkly from underneath almost translucent skin bathed in a sheen of sweat, even his breathing was off, loud in the silence, when Yassen was a man that Alex had seen face his own death calmly, like he’d been greeting an old friend.

This was not Yassen’s normal calm. He seemed to be holding himself very, very still, like the only thing leashing him was his own tremulous self control.

Alex didn’t know what to think.

He’d seen Yassen die right in front of him.

He remembers feeling covered in his blood.

He remembers watching a dull sheen film over Yassen’s pale blue eyes.

He’s watching now as a battle plays out silently in the tension in Yassen’s spine, as Yassen’s hand dripping with blood starts to move upwards, until Yassen is lIcking the blood from his fingertips seemly forgetting Alex’s very presence as his eyes close as if he’s savoring the taste.

“Yassen.” Alex’s voice cuts through the bloodlust haze that Yassen seems spellbound by.

Yassen stops and drops his hands and almost blanching as he remembers Alex.

“Alex.” Alex’s name seems to be impossibly precious to Yassen as he murmurs it almost reverently as he drinks in the sight of Alex.

“You died,” Alex doesn’t exactly mean to, but those words sound devastated when he says them. “Right in front of me.” Alex laughs hollowly, “Gave me some shit advice.”

Yassen frowns, “I thought it would be a better choice for you.”

“Rothman was a little too crazy.”

Yassen looks regretful, “I thought she’d be more reasonable than she actually proved to be.”

“You can’t predict crazy.” Alex frowns, “Why weren’t you there? You obviously survived.”

Yassen quirks an eyebrow at Alex looking bemused. He waves his still bloodstained hand, drawing attention to smears of blood on his lips and chin. “Some complications ensued.”

“Are you really gonna leave it at that?”

“No, if you ask I will explain.” Yassen looks at the now completely dead body lying next to him. “But maybe we can go to a more secure location first?”

Alex nods. He’s a little shocked though when Yassen takes that as permission to scoop Alex up, like Alex isn’t now six feet tall, standing slightly above Yassen’s lithe form and probably an entire stone of firmly muscled weight more than Yassen possessed. Alex had grown in the years since he’d last seen Yassen. It shouldn’t physically be possible for Yassen to be carrying him with such ease, but he does.

Yassen moves to the edge of the roof, then hops to the next effortlessly.

Alex wraps his arms around Yassen’s neck, just to make sure he’s completely secure in Yassen’s hold and watches as they move, the world jumping past in blurs and stops as they hop along a path that Yassen doesn’t seem to need to think about.

Alex’s heart hammers in his chest, as he feels completely safe, and this experience is like the best parkour run he’s been on, an adrenaline rush like all the extreme sports had been once upon a time. 

The run eventually ends though, on what Alex knows is the other side of the city via a fairly winding path. Yassen jumps down into an empty alley and Alex wiggles down to his feet so he can now follow on his own two feet since it’d be a memorable sight to see Alex carted around by Yassen to pretty much everyone in the world.

They end up entering a low rent motel on the edge of town, the rooms all out on the street so no front desk person to notice Alex and Yassen entering a room with drawn curtains. Alex stares down Yassen noting minute changes he hasn’t noticed before. Yassen isn’t breathing hard anymore, he doesn’t seem to be breathing at all.

Then the skin, the blood, the strength, everything different about Yassen now, well it wasn’t a picture that Alex had ever thought of being reality, but if it quacks like a duck, well odds are it’s a duck.

“You’re a vampire?”

Yassen’s expression doesn’t change, “Yes.”

“How’d the hell did this happen?”

Yassen perched on the arm of a chair and motions for Alex to sit too before he answers, “I didn’t die on Air Force One, but it was a close thing. A shame too, it would have been a good death, saving you.”

Alex interjects, “Well personally, I’m glad you didn’t die, but that doesn’t explain this.” Alex isn’t sure why he’s so sure of this fact, since honestly him and Yassen had only interacted for a few brief moments over a handful of encounters, and Yassen had spent most of these moments alternately threatening and saving Alex.

“I was apprehended. They saved my life and then sent me to a secure prison after I was healed enough to transport. At the prison there was another inmate, an older woman who the guards feared more than they did me despite her harmless appearance, who seemed to see something in me. She would seek me out for conversation constantly about the most random of topics. When she was done biding her time, she slaughtered the guards, the other inmates, and stole me.”

Yassen’s expression is stony. “I spent months mindless, ravenous, completely beyond control.” Yassen sneers, “My control is still tenuous at best at times.”

Alex looked at Yassen, “But you seem fine now. As soon as I spoke you were yourself again.”

Yassen ignores the statement, “I am more instinct than planning now, like I am an animal.” Revulsion crosses his face.

Alex frowns as he listens to Yassen bareing what seems to be his soul to Alex’s listening ears. For all that Alex knows that Yassen is a terrible person, who killed for money, for the challenge, it’s disturbing to hear Yassen speak of himself like this, with self loathing instead of calm competence. It’s not something that Alex will let continue.

“I’m still glad you didn’t die.”

Yassen frowns, “I thought you’d want revenge.”

“Were you trying to get me to play judge, jury, and executioner for you?” Alex’s words jumble together as he rushes them out.

Yassen looks at the ground.

“You were!” Alex is honestly a little outraged at the thought. “Yes, you were a complete and total dick to me at times, but you also kept saving my life! I don’t want to kill you, no matter what crimes you’re guilty of. You certainly don’t seem like an animal to me now.”

Alex reaches and grabs Yassen’s hand, deliberately ignoring the dried blood flaking off. “You saved me again.” Alex laughs, “Why do you keep doing that? Don’t say my dad, he saved your life once, that doesn’t mean you owe him for the rest of your life. That was his choice, and if he was anything like me, he wasn’t thinking of a debt.”

Yassen sighs, “No, John was my older brother, and while I’m grateful to him for saving me, I owe him nothing after figuring out he was a double agent and keeping it quiet.” Yassen pauses, “Alex you are your own person, and I find you intriguing on your own merits. You’ve survived things that killed trained adults, supposedly at the top of their field.”

Alex wonders if that is a subtle jab at his uncle, but currently has other questions on his mind. “So what now?”

“I don’t know,” Yassen seems a little lost once he realizes that Alex has no plans of following his script.

“How about this, if you’re so worried about turning into an animal, and you trust my judgement, why don’t we stick together for now?” Alex cajoles, “I’ll keep an eye on you, even take care of you, if you really do prove to be a monster.” Yassen doesn’t have to know that Alex truly doubts the truth in Yassen’s fears.

Yassen nods, “That could work.”

Alex smiles feeling triumphant, he’s got a lot more questions to ask, more than he can ask in one night though. Maybe he can bully Yassen into watching some classic movies and separating truth from fiction sometime soon for Alex’s satisfaction. Now that Alex knows it exists, well, he’s got to be prepared.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex gets some questions answered, and they don't play attention to the time, so it's a little too close to dawn for Yassen to go safely and discretely feed, so Alex takes matters into his own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo, this chapter brings some heat okay? But I have plans for this story to escalate as I go, so it's still pretty PG13.

“So what’s going to be our plan now?” Alex questions.

Yassen shrugs, “Time to go to ground for a bit, let things die from your little adventure.”

“I wouldn’t mind a vacation,” Alex laughs, “Get out from under Blunt’s thumb for a bit.”

“I’ve got a place lined up, we can leave tomorrow night.” Yassen nods, settled in their meager plans of following his original plan, Alex figures that wherever Yassen had planned will be plenty secure for the both of them, if Yassen had thought it was good enough for himself to hole up. Not that Alex has much experience in that, his experiences with hiding mostly involved climbing into whatever scarce cover he could find, not arranging safe houses.

“So tomorrow night,” Alex tilts his head, “So no sunlight, is that true?”

Yassen looks pained, “Yes, it’s true.”

Alex doesn’t think he could live a life forbidden from being in the sun, there’s something about being outside that is actually extremely relaxing to Alex. Maybe it’s from his childhood, the hiking trips were always a treat, just him and Ian, making their way through the wilds of the outdoors discovering sights Alex still sometimes dreams of to this day. “That sucks.”

Yassen snorts at Alex, “So succinct, yes, as you phrase it, that sucks.”

Alex shrugs, “So how often do you need blood?”

“Almost every day,” Yassen looks serious, “I can maybe skip a day, but the longer I push it, the harder it gets to ignore.” 

“How much do you need?”

“About 500 milliliters.”

“So not enough to kill someone?”

“Not if I’m in control and feed everyday.” Yassen grimaces, looking like he’s thinking about something that has happened before, “But if I skip, it’s harder to stop myself. There’s no limit to what I can drink. I think I probably drained five guards in the escape.”

“Did you feed today?”

Yassen looks away from Alex.

That’s an answer in itself to Alex. “I’ll take that as a no then.”

Yassen’s lip curls back, “No.”

“Does it hurt?”

Yassen growls, “Alex, don’t go there. You aren’t food.”

Alex grabs Yassen’s hand again. “That’s not what I asked.” Alex grabs Yassen’s hand and traces the veins along Yassen’s wrist, feeling where there should be a pulse, but there is none. “Come on, Yassen, I’m just curious.”

“It hurt when she fed on me.” Yassen stills completely, as he recounts, “She wasn’t a neat eater, tore out my throat and lapped at the ruins.”

Alex grips Yassen’s hand tight at that admission.

Yassen continues, “But if I’m careful, it’s different, my victims seem to gloss over the pain once I start, and I can lick wounds closed.”

“You said if you skip a day, it’s harder, why not a little nibble?” Alex earnestly tries to make puppy eyes at Yassen, like that will help his case.

“Alex, no.”

“Why not?”

“You are too important to be food.”

“I’ll never be just food to you, or you’d never be putting up this much fight.” Alex is quite sure of this fact as he throws in Yassen’s face. “You said you’d put your fate in my hands. I don’t want to see you try to starve yourself, it’s our new first ground rule.”

Yassen was strong enough to push Alex away before the change, he’s probably more than capable of putting Alex through a wall now. He doesn’t try to break Alex’s hold on him.

Yassen shakes his head, “I don’t want to feed from you. We have maybe an hour before dawn, I can go find someone.”

“Yassen, be realistic, that’s not enough time for a clean hunt and both of us have the skills to recognize this fact.”

Alex reaches with his free hand to his ankle, where he’s got a small knife concealed, pulling it out while Yassen is distracted with trying to come up with further arguments to make with Alex. Alex has an idea that will certainly stop this stalemate though. Sure, it’s dirty pool, but all’s fair in love and war, Alex thinks as he reaches with his free hand to slash a shallow cut across the wrist of his hand holding Yassen’s.

As soon as the blood starts flowing, Yassen’s eyes burn with an inner fire, and the tension that Alex had seen earlier in Yassen, while he’d stood over the dead body and fought with his instincts is back full force. Even though Yassen doesn’t seem to need breath to fuel his body, his nose flares as he takes in the scent of Alex’s fresh blood.

“NO.” Inhuman, cold, commanding, Yassen is all of these, but Alex is still unaffected.

Immovable force, meet opposing force.

“Yes,” Alex drops the knife to the floor, and brings his hand up to dab some on the blood on his fingertips. Alex raises two fingers, now covered in his own warm blood, up to meet Yassen’s closed lips, painting them red like Yassen had put on lipstick. Alex sees as Yassen swallows, a sign of the fraying control Yassen had warned of maybe, but Alex still isn’t afraid, he’s just a little curious, and this probably won’t be any worse than donating his blood to a blood drive, just a bit more personal that it usually is. Yassen opens his mouth, panting slightly, and Alex takes it for the opportunity it is.

He presses his fingers into Yassen’s mouth, and Yassen’s tongue begins to lap, almost kittenish at Alex’s fingertips. Yassen’s eyes close, and he begins to suck at the fingers in his mouth, tracing every last drop of blood from between Alex’s fingers, until it’s all gone, and Yassen is still sucking at Alex’s fingers. Alex feels along the edge of Yassen’s teeth, finding enlarged incisors, sharp enough to leave a stinging cut behind on the pad of Alex’s finger. Alex himself moaning as Yassen latches on sucking enthusiastically at the small wound.

Alex breaths and watches as Yassen seems to lose much of his self awareness, and he is so focused on the taste of Alex’s blood being fed to him, that he’s actually not even moving for the bigger wound on Alex’s wrist, still bleeding sluggishly, with blood dripping down the crook of Alex’s arm to fall onto the motel room’s scratchy sheets.

“Yassen,” Alex coaxes Yassen to follow him onto the center of the bed. Alex settles behind Yassen, and moves so now his bleeding wound is directly in front of Yassen’s face, within easy access to Yassen’s mouth.

Yassen latches on, his teeth sink into Alex’s skin easily, sharp and tapered and designed exactly to go through fragile skin. Alex stops breathing for a second though, when Yassen starts sucking on this wound, it feels almost indescribable, like Alex is suddenly on the edge of the best orgasm as his life, and what blood isn’t being pulled from Alex’s wrist is instead heading directly to his cock, as it swells to life. Alex is honestly a little glad that Yassen is so focused on the blood he’s drinking, as this might be one of the most embarrassing times of Alex’s short, but adventurous life. Alex is achingly hard now, and he feels warm and sleepy, and his heart is beating to the steady pulse of Yassen swallowing against Alex’s wrist. Alex can’t help but to moan a little and rut against Yassen’s back, seeking friction, but not finding quite the right amount to make himself cum.

If it feels this good to just let Yassen feed from his wrist though, Alex can’t help but wonder how it would feel to feel Yassen’s teeth against his neck. “Yassen,” Alex pants as he pets at Yassen’s throat, feeling the muscles move underneath his fair skin. It’d be easy to just let this continue, but Alex knows that this will not happen again, if he lets Yassen get the idea that he went too far and hurt Alex by feeding on him. Alex splays his free hand against Yassen’s throat and gently pushes against it, “It’s time to stop,” Alex whispers softly into Yassen’s ear.

Yassen’s swallowing stops. 

“Very good,” Alex continues to gently coax Yassen, and Yassen moves as if he’s the one hyponotized by Alex. “You did very good,” Alex’s speech slightly breathless as Yassen licks firmly against his wrist, and the wound disappears incrementally with each deliberate swipe of Yassen’s tongue against Alex’s wrist, until it’s completely gone, Alex’s wrist whole, with just a sheen of saliva drying on his skin. “Wow.” Alex looks in amazement at his now unbroken skin. “Yassen, that didn’t really hurt. I’m okay,” Alex props himself on his elbow so he can stare down at Yassen as Yassen turns to face the ceiling silently. “How are you doing?”

“Better.” And that seems to be an accurate statement to Alex, as Yassen isn’t so unnaturally pale now, he looks much closer to how he did as a human to Alex’s eyes. 

Alex yawns, still feeling sluggish after the long day, followed by an impromptu blood donation. “Good.” Alex flops down onto the pillow and carelessly drapes himself over Yassen, “This okay?”

Yassen doesn’t reply, but he also doesn’t move to push Alex away from him, instead settling against Alex’s form. It’s as close to a yes as Alex thinks he’s going to get from Yassen today. Alex drifts off to sleep, wondering idly if Yassen is going to sleep too, not sure if he’d actually need to now.

*

Yassen does need sleep. He’s a vampire, which while an unnatural creature, seems to have some internally consistent rules. He needs even less sleep though than he’d needed as a human though, but it’s not a hardship to have Alex’s warmth pressed against his side. Yassen gazes down at Alex’s face, peaceful and young in his sleep, despite him being a nearly fully grown man now. Alex’s face is half buried against Yassen’s chest as the crown of his head rests against Yassen’s throat. Yassen can feel the soft snores reverberating as Alex rests against him limply.

This was a bad idea, finding Alex, Yassen should have known that Alex was too soft to do what needed to be done.

Yassen hadn’t thought that Alex would speed past that though, and offer himself up to Yassen almost on a silver platter. Alex had tasted like ambrosia to Yassen, a reminder of cherry jam in tea brewed in a samovar, sticky and sweet and the best treat that Yassen had ever tasted in his life, something that it would be far, far too easy to find himself glutting on. Control fraying, breaking, and then the irresponsible loss of the only person in Yassen’s life that he gives a damn about anymore. Yassen couldn’t face it if he did that.

Yassen would walk into the sunlight and see what happened if he accidentally kills Alex.

Alex isn’t food.

Yassen drifts off to sleep, himself lulled by Alex’s peace, but with these dark thoughts haunting him in the back of his mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Also holy crap it’s so late for me and I have to be up to work so early. Why is my best writing time when I know I should be going to sleep?


End file.
